2. sending out a test run

june 26. 2013

every morning i wake up, check my instagram, facebook, and email in that order. this specific 

morning, i had gotten an email saying ive been identified as a possible match. 

"hahahaha yeah right." i thought.

i immediately took a screenshot of the email and sent out a group message

to my mom and 3 sisters asking them if they had gotten the same email.

they hadnt.

my heart stopped.

"oh crap! everyone responded back to my message saying how cool it was

and how excited they were for me. soo.... if everyone else is excited about this, 

why am i not? oh yeah, i remember. 

needles.

i got out of bed and said a quick prayer. i asked my father in heaven to help me have courage and

to know what i needed to do. i knew what i needed to do instantly. 

i called the number on the screen and was talking to a lady named bobbi.

she was asking me all sorts of questions. 

"are you sure you want to do this?" {... thinking, no. answer:} yes

"are you pregnant?" no.

"are you in good health? yes.

i was scared out of my mind! i had to keep fanning myself {wish i was kidding} because i had no

idea what id gotten myself into!

bobbi was telling me id have to take some blood work tests to see if i really was a match for this lady.

i had to go to sjrmc and get my blood drawn. pretty sure my face was white at this point.

id told her i was absolutely terrified of needles and she kept asking

if i wanted to go through with it.

to be honest, i didnt. 

i didnt want to have to get my blood drawn 5 different times. 

i didnt want to have to get a needle in my hips or my arms. 

i just didnt want to.

but at the same time... if i was dying or someone i loved was dying, wouldnt i be praying 

for someone to help? of course i would. 

plus, i might not even be the right match once i took more tests. right??

so i went to the hospital and got my blood tests taken.  

1. how it all began...

when i learned i was going to be donating my bone marrow

i decided to start a journal on my ipad. 

i will share some of the entries i wrote in my journal with you guys. 

i really didn't write it for you guys to read.

i mainly wrote it for me so i could remember what i went through, how i felt, 

and and what i was thinking during the whole process! 

i hope to one day give it to "my lady"

{her identity is still secret, for some reason}

i dont know. we will see if i chicken out or not. 

anyways....

here is my first journal entry. 

1. how it all began... 

February 23. 2013

Kinzey was putting on a bone marrow drive for a lady in kirtland 3rd ward. 

her goal was to get 70 people. when i first heard about it i told her not to 

even ask if i would do it because i wasnt going to say no to her. and then brittany, my mom

and kinzey all talked me into it. kinzey was at 69 new members and needed 

one more to reach her goal.

"fine... come to the propane yard and swab my cheek!" i told kinz. 5 minutes later.

 knowing in 5 short minutes i would be shakily writing down all my information and getting 

my cheek swabbed to become the newest member of be the match. 

i called cory and told him what id just done and wanted to burst out in tears in the middle of work.

he asked me why i did it and i didnt have an answer

then he started laughing. oh that made it ten times worse!! 

but to be honest... i had no idea why i signed up. 

especially with my huge fear of needles.... 

matched

i'm a match!?!?!?!?

for those of you that don't know i was contacted to be a "match" a bone marrow donor "match"

over the next few posts i will be telling my story of how the girl who is terrified of needles,

signs up to be on the bone marrow registry.
here's the how:

kinzey was working on her young womens project {for those of you who don't know what
personal progress is, but want to know, click here}

a lady in our home ward named Phyllis just was diagnosed with cancer.

she was needing a bone marrow transplant  so kinzey set up a bone marrow drive with 

be the match kinzeys goal was to get 70 people signed up

i'd told her before the actual drive to not even ask me

because i didnt want to tell her noand then i didnt want to feel bad about not
saving someones life
so she didnt ask me.
... until about 4:00 that day. 

the drive was over and she had 69 swab kits done and ready to be sent she called me up

"tay, please i just need one more!"

with a little bit of convincing i would never be chosen, i swabbed my cheeks. 

i filled out what needed to be filled out and with a nervous stomach, 

gave it back to her. 

"if i ever get matched i will hurt you so bad"
is what i was thinking. who knows if i actually said it or not.

phyllis ended up not needing a match from our ward because she was "matched" with someone
 like the next day.

not even five months later, i was donating my bone marrow

but we won't go into that just yet. the story is just beginning! 

i got this email from "bethematch.org" thinking it was just an email they sent out

showing you what it would look like if you were ever "matched"

i sent a group text out to my mom, brit, and kinz 

asking them if they got one similar "awesome!" "oh my gosh that's so cool tay!" 

"you get to save someone's life!!" are some of the texts i got back.

oh crap

i was the only one to get this email?  i started freaking out

maybe i just won't email them or call them back

they would just forget about it, right?

what am i thinking?! 

i can't possibly say "no" to saving someones life just because i was simply "afraid of needles"

no.

if this was me, or someone i loved i would want that 20 year old girl

who was terrified of needles to suck it up and save a life!!

i knew i had to do this. 

so i called the number it told me to and with all i had, i said i was willing and able to donate.

my stomach was in my freaking throat. 

what am i doing?!

i said a quick prayer to help me not cry on the phone.

i told the lady i was scared of needles  and she kind of questioned me

like.. is this girl crazy?!

haha.

i told her the story of how i was kinda talked into it and how i thought i would never be chosen or
 "matched" with anyone, ever.

for pete's sake, my mom has been on the registry for 25 years and has never
 gotten an email about it. 

so i thought i would be in the clear too.

i am pretty sure Heavenly Father was laughing up in Heaven thinking 

"tayler, i'll make you not scared of needles, you just wait." 

corys actual birthday

on corys birthday we went to outback 

and saw michael douglas

cory walked into the bathroom and mikey d 

was in there too.

cory said he was kinda mumbling and grumbling

he said it was weird

one of sam's friends little brothers 

went and asked michael d if he could 

get a picture with him and he said no!

kinda weird but whatever

so we had a little birthday party for cory at our new little home

we had corys favs

sliders

fruit

salad

and some chocolate sheet cake

it was a fun get-together.

especially since we were able to have it in our own little house! 

and there was enough room for everyone!

in the tycksen house, there was no way that would happen.

ever.

so it was a pretty fun time

haha tammy took this and sent it to me later

once the party was over we took a nice little walk

cory did not want to be in pictures.

obviously

gettin crafty

before corys birthday party

i was wanting to make a wreath

for the front door.

i am still in the process

of getting decorations for my home

i was looking on pinterest 

and found the cutest wreaths

i liked a little bit of all of them 

but not one all by itself.

so i picked my favorites of each wreath

and put them all together! 

this is what i came up with. 

birthday concert
for cory's birthday i surprised him with a trip

to albuquerque to watch 

one republic

sara bareilles

and 

harper blynn.

it was such a good concert! 

we had a freaking blast

cory is in love with one republic right now

he wasn't really interested in sara

but we got there right in time for the show- luckily!

we sat down and these guys started playing. 

nobody had no idea who they were.

cory and i fell in love with them! 

here is one of our fav songs:

go

after harper blynn came on

sara b came on.

cory fell in love with her!

she was so witty and funny

her voice is amazing live

we loved her too. 

this was one of the videos i took of her

the last to come on was one republic 

cory was going nuts when they came on

he was so excited!

it was like a little kid on christmas!

my favorite was the guy on the cello.

he was amazing! 

buuut for some reason i don't have a single picture

of one republic

on my camera. 

summmmmaaaa time

summer has come and gone. 

sadly, but surely.

i feel like, being an adult...

 summer kind of is nonexistent.

unless you are a school teacher, a stay at home mom, 

or maybe even a bum. 

but being a working woman,

summer flew by 

and i watched from my window at the salon,

doing lashes after lashes.

which is totally fine. 

i love doing lashes.

but i would really enjoy going out in the sun 

to go swimming with the nieces and nephews.

but i am so so soo grateful for the job that i have

and the clients i am able to work with.

{anyways...}

getting back to our summer vacation! 

since cory and i both work

and he had a summer class,

we decided to take a mini vacation 

to the wonderful.. 

san diego!

it. was. wonderful. 

it was just what we needed.

we really had no intentions of having a schedule

or doing anything for that matter.

we wanted to relax and kinda 

"fly by the seat of our pants"

and that is exactly what we did.

we went to a few different beaches,

 nice tan lines, right?!?!

went to sea world,

went to the zoo,

 hahahaha

shopped till we dropped,
even though shopping was fun, i didn't take any pictures.
i know, i know.. you are probably dissappointed. 

went to ripley's believe it or not

as well as the space museum,

 this was the actual re-entry capsule!

and we went to the temple 

which is my absolute {favorite}

of all time ever

--tying with st. george, of course--

and lastly,

we ate till our little hearts were content. 

which is probably our favorite thing to do.

a go-go hash house 

one of our favorite breakfast places!

hodad's
story behind hodads,
we just finished beaching it up all day
{i think}
and while i was getting ready for the evening,
cor was watching tv.
he was flipping through the channels when
diners, dive-ins and dives
came on.
 cory watched to see where guy was
and he was in san diego!
so cory yelled at me
"tay! guy is in san diego, we are going wherever he is!"
"okay babe. i'm fine with whatever."
so we get to hodad's and had to wait about 30 minutes outside
before even being waited on.
it was so worth the wait though.
i'm not even lying you guys.
this was the best burger of my life.
absolutely, the best.
we thought we had died and gone to heaven.

anyways, this was just a little slice of our wonderful trip.
we had such a fun time we want to save up every year
and go out there for a few days.
maybe we can even work a little
chem-dry
for some extra cash.
;)